through ENRICHING Black Artists HISTORY YOUTH Untitled (Boxer) 1982, BLACK ARTISTS THROUGH HISTORY, LESSON 5 Acrylic and (Untitled) Boxer by Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1982 Crayon. 75.98” x 94.09” - 1- This painting, which depicts a black boxer in the foreground of a white graffiti-filled Neo-Expres- backdrop, was sold at auction for $13.5 million in 2008. It had been held as part of the private sionism. collection of Lars Ulrich, the drummer for the heavy metal band Metallica, who decided to sell this painting along with Basquiat’s other masterpiece Profit I in order to raise funds to build a Facts about artist house for his family. Jean-Michel Basquiat, born 2- This painting is a typical example of Basquiat’s bold graffiti style, used to enhance a heroic in 1960 and died art piece into a full examination of the character’s figure and stance, from the skeleton-like 1988: smile to the disfigured muscles in the arms and laces of the boxing gloves. 1- Born in Brook- 3- Jean-Michel Basquiat canonized Louis and other black boxing heroes in his paintings, de- lyn to Haitian and picting crowns or haloes circling their heads, as demonstrated by the suggestive halo form that Puerto Rican par- arises from the head of the Boxer. In fact, some art critics consider the outstretched arms as a ents, Basquiat grew resemblance to Christ’s upon the cross, while the halo might morph into a crown of thorns. up in New York City where he confronted 4- The upraised arms of the boxer in this painting invoke not only the victorious stance of the racism and learned firsthand the realities of the winner of a boxing match, but also a doubling of the raised fist of the Black Power salute. This socio-economic struggle of the working class. gesture was famously on display at the 1968 Olympics, when American victors Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a powerful statement of solidarity with the Civil Rights movement by 2- Basquiat’s art could be summarized in one of his quotes: “I don’t think about art when I’m raising their fists when receiving their medals at the podium. Note the KO (knockout) letters working. I try to think about life.”. by the boxer’s right hand. 3- After growing up as part of a middle-class 5- By the time he painted the Untitled (Boxer), Basquiat attained the financial success that al- family in Brooklyn, at age seventeen, he head- lowed him to obtain professional art materials as well as a studio space, where for the first time ed to downtown Manhattan to drift between he could create large-scale works such as the present painting. However, he remained acutely friends’ apartments and abandoned warehous- aware of the imbalance of power in the art world in which he triumphed. es for a period, making his mark with spray paint, while setting his sights firmly on making Basquiat & Warhol: it in the New York art world. He started his career by spray-painting enigmatic slogans and symbols on city streets, coded criticisms of contemporary culture that set him apart from the colorful graffiti tags that predominated at the time.

4- As a child, he would visit the Brooklyn Mu- seum of Art, not far from his home in Boerum Hill. “I realized that I didn’t see many paintings with black people in them,” he noted. Jean-Michel Basquiat & Andy Untitled - Basquiat & Warhol Warhol pose at the gallery. collaboration, 1987 5- In a 1983 interview, he defined the subject of 6- Basquiat saw himself in this world as a defiant warrior who had risen from the streets his art as “Royalty, heroism and the streets.” through sheer tenacity and talent, a role he played out in an explicit yet humorous way in the 6- Basquiat celebrated many heroes of black photos where he posed as a prize-fighter with Andy Warhol to advertise the artistic collabora- history in his works, particularly athletes and tion of these art-world champions. musicians. He identified with their personal struggles and inner demons. Basquiat read 7- Basquiat and Warhol became close friends and collaborated in poainting, such as the unti- extensively about these athletes, and was very tled piece featuring Basquiat’s cartoonish depiction of a vibrant-red human stomach alongside well informed about the details of their lives Warhol’s skull and crossbones, which recalls Warehol’s silkscreen-and-paint “Skulls” series. and achievements, which he translated into his painting. 8- Warhol and Basquiat’s relationship has been described as a symbiotic one: Basquiat relied on Warhol to both bolster his name and help him navigate his newfound celebrity; Warhol, in 7- Basquiat had exhibits in New York, Los turn, capitalized on Basquiat’s youthful energy to revitalize his image as an art-world rebel. Angeles, Zurich, Rome and Rotterdam. He was also the youngest artist ever, 21 years old, to Activity: After studying the Untitled (Boxer), print the B&W outline and color it to match the be included in the prestigious Documenta 7 artist’s rendering -or in your own style. I encourage you to use multi-media. exhibition in West Germany

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